Improvement in bouquet-holders



T. B. HODGE. Bouquet-Holders.

No.. 197,219. Patented Nov. 20, I877.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS B. HoneE, or PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN BOUQUET-HOLDERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 197,219, dated November 20, 1877; application filed August 30, 1877.

' Providence, in the State of Rhode Island, have made a new and useful Bouquet-Holder; and

. I do hereby declare that the following specification, taken in connection with the drawing making a part of the same, is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

The drawing shows my improved device.

The object of my invention is to secure to the lappel of the coat a small bouquet, commonly called a button-hole bouquet, and at the same time avoid all injury usually resulting to the fabric from the use of pins or other known means; and consists in the device hereinafter described.

The manner of attaching the bouquet now most commonly employed is to thrust the stems of the flowers through the upper button-hole, and secure them upon the wider side With a pin. The upper button-hole of the coat is seldom, if ever, used, and the introduction of the flower-stems soon causes it to become distended and ill-shapen.

In my invention 1 take a flat piece of metal of any desired pattern, A, and near one eX- tremity provide it with a crossway slot, 13, having within it a raised point, C.

To the lower end of the plate A, I attach a spring-lever, D, and to the upper end of the lever D a loop E, which drops over the point 0, the point C preventing the loop from being entirely withdrawn.

The operation of my invention is as follows: The plate A is placed upon the under side of the lappel of the coat, and the loop E forced through the button-hole a suflicient distance to introduce the stems of flowers, when the pressure upon the lever D is removed, and the flowers are securely held in place.

The plate or back A may be made from wire bent into the desired form, if preferred.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The plate or back A, spring-lever D, and loop E, the whole constructed and operating together substantially as described, for the purposes specified.

THOMAS B. HODGE.

Witnesses:

WALTER B. VINoENT, J. T. RICH. 

